Don’t Trust Nobody on Survivor

March 8, 2014

LJ was suspicious of Morgan[/caption]

Jeff said: “At the beauty Tribe, LJ was suspicious of Morgan…
…while Morgan suspected she and Brice were up against an alliance of 4: LJ and Jeremiah and Alexis and Jefra.
They went to work on recruiting Jeremiah (we hear Brice saying that country folks have to stick together)

Meanwhile, at the Brawn tribe, Tony hit the ground running, finding an idol and manipulating his tribe.
(We heard his lie to Sarah about being a cop)

At the immunity challenge, the Brain tribe continued to self-destruct, blowing a huge lead and losing their second challenge in a row.

Back at camp, things got worse: Garrett decided to hold an open vote but it backfired.
At tribal Council, the women decided that strategy was more important than eating so they blindsided Garrett, leaving Spencer as the odd man out.The first thing noteworthy was that Morgan received more credit for the alliance she had with Brice and Jeremiah. Jeff named her as the one that realized the need to get protection from LJ’s alliance. Since Brice is now gone, we understand why Morgan got the credit. It suggests that she is safe for a little while.

As we mentioned last week, LJ got no credit for making fire and performing well in challenges so I wouldn’t invest too much on his long-term prospects.

Over at Brawn, Tony was the only one to get positive comments from Jeff. Granted, we saw Sarah completing the puzzle while the Brains tribe struggled, but we are led to believe that Tony is the player to watch. Tony is getting some major investments from the editor while Sarah is being “manipulated”.

For Luzon, while last week we saw that Tasha was the one that imposed her strategy, we were told this week that it came from “the women”. Nothing was mentioned of Tasha’s crucial role, Jeff focusing much more on Spencer’s predicament. Like we thought after those two episodes, Spencer is the only one on Luzon with a chance to make the end game.

Don’t Trust Nobody

Brains – Night 6

Spencer (solo): “Tribal Council was a train wreck. Garrett was bad enough at the game that the women were willing to choose someone that destroyed all of our food over him. It’s just crazy. I’m definitely the odd man out right now so I’m going to have to resort to all kind of creative, crazy ideas just to have a shot at this thing.”

Tasha told Spencer that she would have voted against J’Tia if Garrett had just let them have some private conversations.

J’Tia in confessional: “I clearly came into Tribal Council thinking it was me going but it was a lot of luck, a lot of Kass. This tribe is pretty much a complete disaster but it’s entertaining so we’ll see what happens.”

The “lot of luck, lot of Kass” comment was nice to hear. Players need luck to go far in this game so if Kass is going to be associated with luck maybe she can last a while.

Tasha in confessional: “I’m still pissed about the rice, I am still pissed at J’Tia but I have no loyalties to Spencer and I’m going to do my best to get Kass on board for an all-girl alliance.”

Kass gave us her thoughts: “I honestly didn’t know who I’d vote for when I came into Tribal but then you take Garrett; he’s fun to look at but you don’t want to play with him. Then I thought J’Tia’s got a temper but you can replace rice and now she’s scared so I think she will be loyal to me.”

Hearing Tasha and Kass say that they could go girls all the way could be a major theme this season. Survivor Cagayan has already made the record book, being the first season to see three men leave in the first three votes. The women already have a 9-6 advantage and, looking at the big guys on the Brawn tribe, the women from all three tribes could decide to use that advantage. However, we have many men that have strong edits. The women of Luzon are in trouble while most of the rest have been qualified as lazy. There are still a few women contenders but it seems that the threat of an all-women’s alliance will be used to create a male underdog story.

Brawn – Night 6

“I don’t trust anybody here.”

Tony had a confessional: “I don’t trust anybody here. They are against me and I’m by myself; me, myself, my idol and I. Now there’s four of us! I was sitting by the fire, all by my lonesome, then Sarah comes over and I tell myself: Let me just give her something and see what happens.” He proceeded to tell her is in fact a cop, that his wife is also a cop.

Sarah had a confessional of her own: “You know people say they have a “gay-dar” well I have a “cop-dar”. I can tell who cops are and Tony’s a cop and I knew it from day 1 and he finally told me. I felt like I won the lottery! Gosh, I knew I was right.” The two formed an alliance that Tony dubbed: “Cops-R-Us.” Sarah’s confessional continued: “Now that I know Tony’s a cop, we got that blue-blood going and cop blood runs thick and he is loyal to cops and you better believe that I am going to stick by his side. We are going to be partners in crime.”

Tony went on to tell her about “something he heard”, making up a lie about Cliff and Lindsey targeting her.

Tony in confessional: Ì told Sarah about a conversation that took place between Cliff and Lindsey but that was a lie; that was a total lie. I just told her I heard stuff just so I could get her on my side. To me, it means nothing. You can swear on your kids, your family, your dead grand-mother, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s just words.”

“Partners in crime” is a rather odd choice of words for an all-cop alliance! That scene really sounded like something that would fit in well at the reunion, when Sarah can tell us how she felt when she finally learned that Tony wasn’t being honest with her. However, can this alliance survive all of Tony’s lies? We must admit that those lies have been well served and it will be tough for Sarah to get to the truth. If she confronts Lindsey and Cliff, they will tell her that they never targeted her but that won’t prove anything because they’d say the same thing if they were. She will need all her interrogation skills to get to the truth.

The rain really started falling then and we stayed with the Brawn tribe. We saw that the rain was taking its toll on almost everyone.

(The following paragraph contains information about upcoming weather reports from last summer in the Philippines so, if you don’t want to know, skip to the next one)
What we saw this week was tropical storm Isang. Two more Tropical storms will pass a bit more to the south of their location but wait until the last week of the season when Category 4 Super Typhoon Labuyo hits them almost directly. It could get really ugly.

Trish had a confessional: “This is the most miserable experience I’ve ever encountered. It’s either a monsoon or a hurricane. We are so wet. All we’ve got is this little spark that I’m desperately trying to keep alive. We’re basically screwed.”

Tony said the sun always comes out in the morning.

We came back from commercial still with the Brawn tribe.

Aparri is quickly looking like the tribe of interest. Part of the reason is that they are a fun tribe and Tony is truly a big character. It’s too early to say for sure that the winner is on this tribe but we have to keep this information in mind and see if this pattern continues as the season unfolds.

Sarah and Tony were shown trying to work despite the dire situation while Cliff and the others were just huddled in the shelter. After a while, Woo came out to join them.

Woo in confessional: “The rain is gnarly, it’s treacherous, it’s freezing, it’s pouring, it’s terrible but this is what Survivor is all about baby! Hopefully it will die down here shortly. If not, it’s going to be a long night.”

Tony made the best of it, drinking the water as it poured down from the shelter’s roof.

Tony in confessional: “I haven’t been dry for more than a couple of hours. Non-stop rain, it’s really bad for morale. We are all miserable. This is what I envisioned hell to be like.”

Lindsey wasn’t handling it well: “This is the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever put myself in and I just wish I hadn’t.”

Sarah (solo): “I’m sitting there and I’m looking over at Lindsey and I do not feel bad for her because I was sitting with Tony last night over by the fire and he gave me tidbits about Cliff and Lindsey having a conversation about me so that immediately just set me off.”

Tony told her once more the lie, adding some details: Trish was going to be voted out first, Lindsey said she really liked Sarah but Cliff said they could get rid of Trish at any time. That Sarah was the smart one. The two reaffirmed their alliance.

Sarah’s confessional continued: “He knows I’ll be loyal to him. I know he’ll be loyal to me. We shook on it again today. It’s the most sincere handshake you’ll ever have in your life so I trust him 100%.”

Tony had another confessional: “No matter what you tell people, you can’t trust them. You can’t trust nobody here. None of them and I’m sure they don’t trust me.”

Tony has the best attitude for this game: Do your best to be trusted, but don’t trust anyone. It should carry Tony far … if Sarah doesn’t uncover his lies. As for the rest of the tribe, this scene definitely killed Lindsey’s story. We heard she didn’t want to be there so there will be no way to redeem her in the eyes of the viewers. (I know that we heard Jenna threatening to quit in the Amazon, but that was an exception to the rule that editors will do everything to make the winner look good. They really had no chance of making Jenna likable as soon as she didn’t get along with the deaf girl. Here, Lindsey is aligned with potential fan favorites Cliff, Woo and Sarah) Surely, that sentence would have been cut out of the episode if Lindsey was going to outlast in this “ridiculous situation”. Note that the scene wasn’t much better for the silent Cliff and Trish who told us she is screwed. Fire is life and she is already down to a spark so how far can she last?

Beauty – Day 7

“I feel like I’m in a Survivor nightmare.”

Jefra was feeling miserable in the rain and was wondering where all the flies were coming from.

(Note to those who keep track: Both Jefra and Morgan were seen with flies on them.)

Jefra in confessional: “I feel like I’m in a Survivor nightmare. Last night we had a terrible storm. Our clothes are completely drenched…We’ve been soaking in water for almost 24 hours now. We stayed up all night long, we haven’t had food, we haven’t had anything because we can’t make a fire. Reality set in and it’s really, really hard.”

LJ in confessional: “Unfortunately, Jefra is doing a lot of complaining, not a lot of doing. I know what that means: Jeremiah and LJ, go on. Repair the shelter. It takes a lot of work to get by when you’re surviving and I guess the stereotype of beauty is starting to come into play. These girls don’t do anything. I mean, they are on some sort of other planet…This is one situation where I got to keep my mouth shut because I don’t want to put any bull’s eyes on myself.”

This scene may very well end any chance that Jefra had of winning. In Micronesia, we noted that Parvati was never heard complaining about the weather. In her opening confessional she had told us that she wasn’t returning to Survivor to be miserable that she was there to win the million. Even when all of her tribe was huddled in the cave feeling miserable, Parvati was always shown smiling. In Samoa, Mick and Jaison complained endlessly about the rain and we always assumed that Natalie must have said something about it also, but we never heard a negative comment from her. That was a big part of the reason we knew she’d win.

LJ mentioned all the girls so maybe he also ended Alexis and Morgan’s chances, but we never actually heard them complain so we will keep them in the running.After finishing the repairs to Jefra’s partial satisfaction, LJ had another confessional: “We’re wet, we’re soaked and we’re not going to get dry anytime soon. My mind is always running and, on the first day, when I voted out Morgan and we showed up at camp, she came from around the reef, the rocks. The fact that she was there for no reason; she must have gotten a clue, So I figured that maybe I’ll just take a peek. Maybe I can find the Hidden Immunity Idol.” We saw him looking for the idol in the pouring rain. The music was quite subdued the whole time with just a couple of cymbal crashes to highlight his surprising find. His confessional continued: “Who the hell finds an immunity idol in the middle of a typhoon but this guy? That’s why I found it. I’ve grown up on hard work pays off. You reap what you sow and now I hold a piece of this game. It’s priceless. I’m keeping this a secret. No one is ever going to know that I have this thing until I play this thing.”

The choice of music to underline a great moment in the game was a little disappointing. It makes me wonder if this idol, like Garrett’s, will go to waste. Already, by keeping it a secret and letting his alliance split the votes, he almost cost Alexis the game. It wouldn’t be the first time that a wasted idol didn’t receive much attention from the orchestra. Then again, maybe this goes with LJ’s low-key character. He got the job done and so did the musicians, accompanying him in a lightly rhythmic music, nothing more.

With small crabs inviting us over, we joined Spencer and Kass as they found a little Buddha inside tree mail.
Tasha read the announcement which, for once told them clearly what to expect in the challenge and for reward.
(One of the writers is getting lazy…)
J’Tia said she was gonna eat rice.(now that’s funny!)
Tasha (not finding this as funny as me) had a confessional: “J’Tia dumped out about 95% of our rice but now she’s asking how much rice should we cook. Are you freakin’ kidding me right now? It’s ironic. It’s a mess around here. We have an impending challenge, someone could possibly go home and my first inclination is: Let’s practice. The focus is wrong and I feel they are looking at me like I’m crazy.”
She threatened Spencer, saying he’s one that should really want to practice.

Spencer (solo): “It’s weird being the only guy in the tribe. I have to be patient; I have to manage my emotions. I can’t get too down and take my shot to get out of this tribe alive.”

This confessional goes to the perceived theme that the men will be underdogs and will have to do everything they can to get out of the game alive. Will Spencer be that man? Maybe but we still have other contenders…and a new one that hasn’t even showed up yet.

With Spencer and Tasha starting it off, the tribe went through training camp, practicing with coconuts in the ocean accompanied by “The Blue Danube” by Strauss!

What should we make of that choice of music? The Brains tribe would still suck at the part that they practiced to the classical master piece but they eventually finished second. I think we were being told that the Luzon tribe has reached harmony, that they won’t go back to TC.

The Challenge (A comedic interlude)

Jeremiah had the biggest reaction when Jeff announced the surprising outcome of Luzon’s TC.

Before the season started, when we heard how the tribes would be divided, we asked, mostly as a joke, which type of challenges could they possibly design for the Beauty tribe. We underestimated the imagination of the challenge designers, never thinking they could come up with what amounted to a wet T-Shirt contest. As expected, Morgan knew what to do (!) and she managed to fill Solana’s bucket with tips … I mean water, faster than anyone else. That’s when the problems began for Solana: LJ and Jeremiah never figured out the maze so Brawn quickly caught up to them. Then, even if some of their exchanges were pathetic, (The Danube must have gone almost dry) Luzon caught up. At least, they changed something, letting Spencer and Kass do the maze instead of J’Tia. As Jeff said, they were working well together for the first time. It was fun to see their explosion of joy when they beat Solana for second place. J’Tia jumped on Spencer who later gave Tasha a hug that swept her off her feet!

J’Tia’s redemption story began with tears.

J’Tia’s redemption story started when the camera focused on her tears of joy just before Jeff started handing out the idols.

Returning from commercial, we went once more to the Brawn tribe first.

That reinforces the possibility that this is the tribe of interest. And, once more, it was a scene that featured Tony and Sarah (although Sarah was simply taking the role of narrator).

Sarah in confessional: “We killed the challenge again. We know how to keep our composure when we are under pressure in a competition. We have the tarp, we have the comfort. It’s insane. I feel like a brand new person. Like; bring on the rain.”

Tony: “When we brought back the comfort items… I said to myself; there might be a potential clue in there or an advantage of some sort. My brain is ticking while theirs is not I guess. I don’t know what’s going on with the rest of my tribe mates but the first thing I am saying is that I got to get my hands on everything. I took the hammock to the side just in case something fell out. I open it and a little piece of paper that looked like a clue fell out to the floor. I immediately put my foot on top of it, looked around; nobody’s there. I bent down and put it in my pocket…It didn’t pertain to anything I needed; I already have the idol but I wanted to make sure that if there was anything in there, if there was a clue in there if there was an advantage of some sort, I wanted to get my hands on it. I didn’t want nobody else to see it and that’s what I did.”

Tony set up the hammock but it broke as soon as Sarah tried it, sending her crashing to the ground. Having said she wanted to see her fall on her ass, Lindsey got a big laugh out of it.
Was this shown to symbolize that Tony’s action will cause Sarah’s fall? It certainly looked that way. Should we believe Tony when he says the rest of his tribe is not thinking enough about the game. On the surface, he is right but we can’t forget that he could be in for quite a surprise.

Beauty – Day 8

The scene started with a couple of baby birds being fed by one of its parents.We had a very similar scene during Redemption Island where three little chicks were chirping because they were hungry. Since it had been shown just before a scene from Ometepe, we knew it represented Andrea, Natalie and Ashley who were vying for Rob’s attention, depending on him to survive. Here, we also saw a big lizard (Reptiles were seen in Luzon during the premiere) that looked very hungry as it lurked around in the trees. That’s not a good sign for Alexis and Jefra, the two women that have been shown depending on LJ and Jeremiah.

Jefra told Morgan that she did a good job with the water but the spirits were down as we saw when LJ said they didn’t get the job done.

Alexis in confessional: “Out here, you have so many elements hitting you at once. We were just in the middle of a hurricane, we lost the challenge, we’re so exhausted and now, we’re going to tribal. I think the energy on our beach is going to turn really dark. It’s going to get super negative and suspicious.”

Before that though, LJ asked if anybody was ready to go home. No one took him up on the offer.

At least we don’t have any quitters.

LJ, in confessional: “Tonight, we have to finally go to Tribal, it had to happen eventually. Jeremiah, myself, Alexis and Jefra are on the same page. Between Morgan and Brice, the one that I have to worry about is Brice. He seems like he’s going to be tough towards the end of the game. It’s a better move to make a move on Brice now.”

I wonder what suddenly made LJ consider that Brice was more dangerous. Did Jeremiah have something to do with it? He could have told his ally that his other ally was more of a schemer than Morgan. In response, Brice also had a confessional: “I do worry that the tribe may come together and say that maybe Brice isn’t a physical threat but Brice is clearly a social threat. They may target me but I trust in Jeremiah and I just want to make sure that we are on the same page to get a girl out tonight.”

Taking a walk, Brice and Jeremiah compared notes.
Brice said he was thinking Alexis and asked Jeremiah if LJ had said anything.
Jeremiah admitted that LJ was targeting him.
Brice said that LJ would target Jeremiah right after.
Jeremiah said he didn’t know about that but agreed to vote against Alexis.

Morgan in confessional: “LJ thinks he has an alliance of Alexis, Jefra, Jeremiah and himself but, in reality, Jeremiah’s with Brice and I. Tonight, for the vote, we just got to get Jefra in there with us to make that a 4-2 vote.”

When Morgan told Jefra that they should vote out Alexis, Jefra proposed voting for LJ instead.
Morgan replied they needed LJ to win challenges.
Jefra was all surprised to hear that Morgan had talked to Jeremiah.

Maybe Morgan should have gotten Jeremiah to talk to Jefra before she did, just sayin’. It was very interesting however to hear Jefra mention LJ’s name.

Jefra (solo): “Morgan and Jeremiah and Brice have an alliance and are going to be voting for Alexis tonight. What is going on? Is Jeremiah with me, Alexis and LJ or is he with Brice and Morgan? People are throwing out strategies I never heard of before. I mean it’s just absolutely nuts. I am not very excited about tonight because I think somebody is really going to get blindsided.”

It appears that Jefra never talked to LJ or Alexis about what she heard from Morgan. Considering that and her offer to go after LJ, is it possible that she could still align with Morgaon to go against their leader at a later Tribal Council?

When Jefra told Jeremiah of all “the crazy stuff” that she heard coming from Morgan, Jeremiah denied it and said he was still good to go with Brice. He added: “Are me and you still…?”
She said yes.

Jeremiah has a side deal

Jeremiah has a side deal with “Miss Kentucky runner-up 3 times”. Counting Morgan, that makes two girls for Jeremiah but he looks like a guy who could have more than a girlfriend at a time. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the two of them.

Jeremiah in confessional: “Jefra does not want to vote out Alexis. Brice and Morgan are voting Alexis. I’m kinda, I’m stuck.”

Just before commercial, we saw Alexis walking up to Jeremiah and Jefra. We’d soon learn that she had a plan. A plan that could have gotten her voted out!

The last segment started with the lizard apparently getting closer to the baby birds while an ominous music played in the background…The lizard is already in the Beauty tribe, ready to pounce on the weaker members.

Alexis proposed splitting the votes, convincing Jefra that here was no danger in doing so because they’d simply re-vote and put all their votes on Brice.
Alexis explained in confessional: “Maybe Brice or Morgan has an idol so what we are going to do is split the vote. The two boys are going to vote for Morgan while the girls vote for Brice. If either one plays an idol then a tie equals a re-vote and we’ll all vote for Brice.”

In confessional, Jeremiah (the lizard) told us this was his time: “There’s always a fear of this idol being played. If I can get my majority to agree to make a split vote, we could have a three way tie and it would put me absolutely in the middle.” LJ came to join the three and, in order to keep his secret, he agreed to the split vote while Jeremiah went on: “If I go with Brice and Morgan, I could get rid of Alexis. My main goal is to take over this tribe and I’m going to have the numbers tonight is what I am really hoping on.”

Brice went to Jeremiah once more, pleading with him to eliminate Alexis.
Brice, in confessional: “I’m not worried tonight because I do trust in Jeremiah and Morgan and I feel that Jefra feels way more comfortable with Jeremiah then LJ so alliances are going to be exposed and people are going to be put in their place.”

Putting him on center stage, the editors gave us another confessional from Jeremiah: “I got a big decision on my hands tonight. I can go with LJ, Alexis and Jefra or Brice and Morgan. Going into Tribal Council, knowing that I have all the power is an amazing feeling but I’m just a country guy, I don’t like to hurt anybody’s feelings and after I make this vote, somebody’s feelings is going to get hurt. Somebody’s probably going to lose their trust in me and that is probably going to hurt me more than anything.”

This confessional was heard mostly in voice-over while the camera showed us Jeremiah putting on his shirt. The picture told the story: Here we had a man getting ready for business. The question is: Did Jeremiah accomplish what he wanted? On the surface, he didn’t because he went with LJ’s side where he is just one of 4. But look at it this way: If he had gone with Brice and Morgan, he’d be their third. What if he was looking at another plan? We know he has a side deal with Jefra and we know that she wasn’t totally against the idea of voting for LJ. If he can repair his relationship with Morgan (she won’t have many other options) then he’d be at the head of an alliance of three in a tribe of five. He would have taken over the reigns of the tribe from LJ and kept them away from Brice. If he can manage that, he will have shown us great skills.

Tribal Council

Morgan simply told Jeff that she liked the looks of her tribe. Then she was attacked by a bug.
Brice said he was excited about being on the Beauty tribe, that he was at the butterfly stage of his life.
Jefra said that the first few days were like a big party but that the storm changed their attitude and their momentum, leading to their loss. She added that everyone was becoming paranoid because “up until this point, nobody that I was aware of, was talking strategy.”(When one is not aware of strategy being played it’s usually being played at their expense but not this time as Jefra was never the target. She’s just naive)
Brice told Jeff that everyone was concerned but that there had been talks around camp.Alexis and Jefra looked shocked to hear that!
Brice went on to name the pairs: LJ and Jeremiah and Alexis and Jefra. He added that they were sometimes seen in a foursome, leaving him and Morgan out. Brice also said that Alexis hadn’t talked to him about the game so he was pretty sure she was gunning for him. When asked if he was voting against Alexis, Brice said he felt everyone should pull their own weight around camp (… as Jeff underlined)Alexis looked very uncomfortable.
Asked if she was pulling her weight, Alexis said Brice was using that as ammo to get her out.
Brice said that they had talked about idols, adding that Morgan was the main focus of those talks.
When Jeff turned to her, Morgan, calm and collected, said she thought she knew how things were going “If things go the way we planned it today.”
Jeremiah, who had been strategically positioned between the two alliances, looked concerned at this, as if this was more than he hoped Morgan would say.
Jeff turned to Jeremiah, asking him if he knew what was going to happen.
Jeremiah played it cool, saying: “It’s going to be tough. I think I know where it’s going but it’s going to hurt, it’s going to suck but it’s Survivor!”Alexis looked really worried when Jeff sent Morgan to vote.

The way the votes were shown, we knew that Alexis, Jefra and LJ had gone with the split vote, meaning all the power was in Jeremiah’s hands.

When Jeff revealed the votes, we saw that Jeremiah had stayed with LJ after all, leading to a tie where neither Morgan nor Brice could vote. Like Alexis planned, Brice got all three votes and was sent packing.

Jeff sent them back to camp by saying that they had their first taste of how the game is played. He asked: “How quickly will you recover?”
After briefly showing Alexis who still looked unsure, the camera showed us the trio of Jefra, Jeremiah and Morgan, suggesting those three will be the ones to recover quickly.

The Story.

Like Spencer, all the men could find themselves on the bottom

As pointed out earlier, we had three men leave the game in the first three episodes for the first time ever. We also heard talk about an all-women’s alliance on Luzon. That alliance could easily spread to the whole cast with a swap or after the merge. Like Spencer, the men could soon find themselves in the bottom, but we heard that it isn’t that bad in the bottom. We think that we will have an underdog story where one man will make a comeback and overcome the women’s majority.

Which one will it be? Jeff gave us a big clue in the opening segment, saying that the players will have to draw from the three main traits that make for a good player. David and Garrett left because they weren’t very smart even if they were on the Brains tribe. Brice had the social game associated with the beauty tribe, but he couldn’t stay under the radar. LJ was quick to figure out that he’d be dangerous when they got close to the end. We continue to think that we have to look for a player that will fill all three categories, but that won’t be seen that way.

This episode also told us a lot about trust and how it applies to the game. We were clearly told that you shouldn’t give your trust to anyone. Brice and Morgan trusted Jeremiah and so did Alexis and LJ. The first two got burned while LJ probably still doesn’t know that the one he probably sees as his closest ally almost eliminated the only one that is truly aligned with him. Will this season really have a great schemer as its winner? The stage has been set for it.

The Characters.

The One Dimensional Players.

J’Tia: Does she even qualify for one of the traits needed in this game? Her actions are certainly not smart and she has no friends out there. She will need luck and some challenge wins by Luzon to stay in the game. Luzon’s new found harmony, symbolized by Strauss’ music, could get her to the swap where the women’s number advantage could protect her. The editors already started her redemption arc, letting us hear that she is good for entertainment and showing her tears of joy after the challenge.

Lindsey: We haven’t been shown anything from Lindsey that indicates she is the full package. Maybe she is strong but she certainly doesn’t have the social game or the smarts. Now we know she sees herself in a ridiculous situation and wishes she wasn’t there anymore. We clearly see the end of her story.

Solana’s narrator

Alexis: She continues to be Solana’s narrator but we heard that she doesn’t pull her weight around camp. Her plan to split the votes worked, but we saw that it almost cost her the game. Therefore, we can’t say she’s really smart. As narrator, Alexis could last a while, but she doesn’t look like our winner.

Trish: She showed more toughness during the storm than Lindsey but she still said she was screwed. Her relative isolation in the tribe shows that she has limited social abilities and we haven’t seen her doing well in challenges so, for now, Trish isn’t part of the group of players that can draw from all three traits.

Jefra: Like Lindsey, she had a lot of trouble handling the conditions and she couldn’t stop complaining but she wasn’t ready to simply quit. We also heard that she was unaware of all the discussions going on around camp. Still, Jefra has an important role to play because she has a side-deal with Jeremiah and suggested voting out LJ. How will she handle that situation? Will she be able to break away from her friend Alexis?

The Players with Two Dimensions:

Woo: Besides being a martial arts expert, we saw that Woo is very well liked by his tribe. The viewers will also like him after he showed he could handle the tropical storm. The problem with Woo’s story is that we have yet to see any game smarts. Of course, Aparri hasn’t gone to Tribal Council yet so maybe he will step us his tactical game but he really doesn’t look like the type of guy that has any idea about long term strategy. His story, pictured by his words during the storm, seems more like live for the moment.

Cliff: Like his wingman, Cliff hasn’t shown us any type of strategy besides getting the group to like him. In Survivor, being well-liked is usually a reason to get voted out. It was very troubling to see that the famous basketball player didn’t get a single confessional even if his tribe was heavily featured.

Kass: J’Tia’s good luck charm had a quiet episode but she was a big part of Luzon’s first “non-loss”. Her problem is her social game where her need for honesty has proven to hurt her already. Not every truth is good to reveal and one would think it applies even more in this game. The self-proclaimed cunning person couldn’t lie when she had to. Maybe she will learn or rather remember her original strategy.

Tasha: We’ve seen that she is smart even if that wasn’t really reinforced in the way Jeff recapped the episode. Tasha’s main problem will be her social game because her need to strategize is known. Very few players will trust her going deeper in the game. Kass immediately wondered if Tasha would burn her even if she went with them. In this game of trust, Tasha has earned very little and it was all because of her own actions.

Morgan: We have been shown some good social game from Morgan in the way she talked to LJ. Her strategy to get with Brice and Jeremiah almost worked but it seemed like she made a mistake by talking to Jefra before Jeremiah had a chance to do so. She revealed too much and so she lost her closest ally, the one that had her back. She could still recover by going with Jefra and Jeremiah (the format of 6 players in a tribe gives a lot of power to the outsider, doesn’t it? As soon as one player goes, we wind up in a situation where 1 person can hold all the power.) and we’ve seen some hints that this is the way the Beauty tribe will go.

The Three Dimensional Players. These are our top contenders:

LJ: He showed a lot of resolve and intelligence when he found the idol, but his trust in Jeremiah could have cost him his only true ally. Seeing Jefra and Morgan talking together made us wonder if LJ made a mistake in thinking that Brice was more dangerous. It would seem logical to think that Jeremiah would have more trouble convincing Jefra to go with Brice if he was still there. Now, the Jeremiah, Jefra, Morgan trio seems like a natural pairing. Will LJ see it coming? His game depends on seeing through Jeremiah’s plan.

Spencer: He is still in the same position, but Luzon’s new found harmony should get him to the swap where he will find a way out of this predicament. His story is in a holding pattern until we see how the swap treats him. A likable guy that has no allies should come in handy for a group in need of a vote and Spencer is smart enough to see that.

Tony: Here we have a high wire act that made a big splash on our screens. He said he liked Hantz so he must be happy to see he is getting almost the same amount of airtime. We are truly seeing the game in Aparri through his eyes and it looks like we are seeing a juggler that has many plates spinning at the end of sticks and he’s trying to keep them all from falling. Will he be able to do it? It all depends on being able to keep Sarah in the dark about his lies. If she does stay true to the “Blue-Blood” alliance then it could work. However, Sarah is heard talking about throwing a challenge so we have to wait until we see who is her target before saying that Tony has her fooled. It would be funny to see the one who admires Hantz getting the boot after his tribe threw a challenge!

All of her story depends on the identity of her target.

All of her story depends on the identity of her target when she suggests throwing a challenge and how the editors present this radical strategy. It’s rarely a smart idea to throw a challenge before the swap (the one exception could have been to boot Hantz but even that didn’t work). If she is targeting Cliff, it will be disastrous for her edit and probably for her game also. It would tell us that she has been totally fooled by Tony, opening the door for his run to the end. However, we see her talking to Woo, Cliff’s wing-man, so that makes us think she’s probably not talking about eliminating Woo’s “idol”. If she has uncovered Tony’s lies, if she has stopped trusting him, then we are in for a great episode.

Jeremiah: He really emerged in this episode to become an important player. We have to remember that he had an opening confessional where he even told us he was looking to use his looks further down the line so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that he took his time before bursting on our screens. Of course, he could be a one-hit-wonder like Caleb last season, but he showed us great potential. In this episode, he gave us a great moment, the opportunity to watch a player quietly positioning himself to take over the reigns of a tribe. Like I mentioned above, going with Brice would have given him all the power. On the surface, he stayed with LJ so he doesn’t appear to have taken over the power, but he has the votes to take it away from the horse trainer as soon ashe feels the time is right. Jeremiah was symbolized by that lizard slowly making its way towards the small birds and a free lunch. Without making as much noise as Tony, we see that he isn’t giving his trust to anyone but that everyone trusted him. Now, he clearly needs to repair his relationship with Morgan, the hot woman with a grudge, but what choice will she have? Jeremiah looks like the type of guy that has learned to deal with an angry woman.